Interpreting heroes
Rarely have I been so deliriously happy about owning a book. There's no other way to say this: Tranformers Classics UK volume 4 is perfect. It collects some of the best Transformers comics ever written. It's full-to-bursting with DVD-style extra features (reproductions of all the bonus stickers, posters, catalogs and the like!) and laden with behind the scenes interviews (next best thing to speaking with Simon Furman myself). It even smells good, you guys, which is all kinds of ridiculous. Also it includes this image which is, quite honestly, the very first thing that comes to mind anytime someone mentions Transformers to me. That's how deeply imprinted this run of issues is upon me.
I've a sneaking suspicion they've something to do with my personality, too. Like I've said, the Ultra Magnus/Galvatron feud was my Superman/Luthor, my Batman/Joker, my Xavier/Magneto. It was, and always will be, my all-time favourite hero/villain rivalry. With the benefit of age and hindsight I can see how dramatically different it is, too. Hideously outmatched, the best Magnus can hope for is a momentary advantage - one he ends up squandering through his angst and self-doubt. Yet he fights on, despite the insurmountable odds, choking down his fear the whole time and refusing to surrender. Again, I feel this helped shape my outlook on life, and may be why I push on even when I'm convinced I'm going to lose (or am falling apart inside from anxiety). Ultra Magnus: my giant robot espy. It's his fault, hah!
Anyway... the book's had another, more modern effect on me. I've enjoyed it so much that I've decided I shan't be purchasing The Covenant of Primus after all. It is, you see, not of my universe. Granted, I always knew it was set in the aligned TF canon but I erroneously believed it was just the "bible"; the holy text, both in-universe and out, no more. However the trailer makes it clear the tome delves into the cartoon, video games and tie-in novels... and I don't want none of that. Not sight-unseen for $70 plus shipping, anyway. Re-reading all those glorious old comics has reinforced, yet again, that my TF love begins and ends with G1 - and I've not a single regret about that. It's cheaper, for one thing, and fandom should be about the interpretation you prefer, nothing less.
Speaking of interpretations: Man of Steel. After initial skepticism, I found myself hanging out for its debut. It's long bothered me that, with all the great comic book movies out there, we don't have an unassailably great Superman film (your mileage may vary on the 1978 version, I know mine sure does). He's the originator of the genre, for monkey's sake, surely his should be the standard-setting movie to which all others aspire! Well, earlier today I had the chance to sit down and run Kal-El's rebirth in front of my greedy little eyeballs. And... I liked what I saw.
Man of Steel reads like someone took every last Superman comic from the past 75 years, threw 'em in a blender set on "high" and scooped up the best bits that floated to the top. As reboots/reinterpretations/reimaginings go, this is one of the more carefully-planned and better-orchestrated around. It's a great lesson in how to show reverence to the source material without slavish devotion to it (take note, Sony, because your Spidey franchise could use some pointers). Every character, concept and twist has at least its roots in the comics - no matter how different they wind up "growing" - but there's neither assumed knowledge nor heavy in-joking. No mean feat, pulling off that kind of balance.
There's a lot to love. I was especially impressed with Krypton: merging John Byrne's cold, genetically perfect world with the Silver Age's "science hero" Jor El worked beautifully, and Zod's coup made sense in the context of a dying, poorly-managed world. Clark's blood as the bottled city of Kandor was neat, and the Kryptonite weakness' upgrade to "Kryptonian atmosphere" was long overdue and applause-worthy. I liked Jor El as the omnipresent can-do-it-all AI (which made his second "death" all the sadder) and appreciated the intelligence and competence of the military characters (made for a nice change). The film was well cast (Cavill was great), Faora annoyed me in the good way (eeeeevil woman) and the designs and SFX were gorgeous. Pete Ross was fun, too.
There's a lot to dislike. Lara El gets handwaved, the third act almost spares Ma Kent the same fate. I feel like Jor El's prominence in the film came at Pa Kent's expense; we never got to see the best of him and he comes off, quite honestly, like a grumpy asshole. The Kryptonian-on-Kryptonian fight scenes were overlong, lacking in drama and smacked of "action figure slug-fest" (like the last reel of Transformers: Dark of the Moon). It's as if the filmmakers listened to 30+ years of "Superman never hits anything!" complaints and went too far out the other side.
Which brings us to the elephants in the room: the much-maligned level of destruction and the death of Zod.
The violence and carnage left me uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. I found the Metropolis scenes hard to watch and felt numb - not in a desensitised way, but in a vaguely traumatised way. It was too much. I understood that it was meant to be too much, that we as an audience were supposed to be shocked and in mourning and horrified... but I question the value of battering us with that sensation. Kudos to Snyder and Nolan for showing us violence isn't fun, and solves nothing, but I protest handing a third of the movie over to that lesson. It was, in my opinion, unnecessary. And it robbed the (admittedly largely humourless) film of any chance of joyousness which isn't right for a Superman story. "Hope" needs to be more than a crest on his chest.
Conversely, I found the death of Zod... all right, Superman's murder of Zod... well-played, understandable and justified within the story. I don't understand all the complaints. For one thing, Superman killing Zod has been a facet of their rivalry since the Byrne reboot. It is, in metatextual terms, why the villain exists: Zod is the one time Superman crosses the line and the reason he'll never do so again. For another, the film made it agonizingly clear how painful the decision was for Clark (should you disagree, I question your understanding of the language of film). It's important to note we're dealing with a young Superman here; yes, there might have been other ways to stop Zod but none immediately apparent to our newly-forged hero. I think (hope?) future films will deal with the ramifications.
The single best thing about the film? Lois Lane. Fall to your knees and thank your gods, comic book fans, for they hath given unto us all a Lois Lane who is intelligent and capable! I damn near cheered when she back-tracked Clark's life to the Kent's front door - because that's what an investigative journalist does. I did cheer when she chose not to expose Clark, showing the sort of ethics and compassion that should be prevalent in my industry. Big fan of the Lois/Clark marriage that I am, I adored the final Daily Planet scene and welcome a universe wherein Superman's secret is shared (eat that, DCnU garbage). And Zod's mistake should serve as a sobering lesson for every would-be super villain: never leave a journalist alone in a room with a USB slot, because s/he will end you. Moo hah hah.
Simply put? Yards ahead of Batman Begins and Dark Knight Rises, on par with The Dark Knight, not as fun as any of the Marvel movies but well worth seeing regardless. Forget about being inspired or uplifted, though; go see it because it's an excellent science-fiction movie and perhaps the only viable way of making Superman palatable to modern, non-comic audiences.
All that being said... it's still not as good as Superman vs The Elite.
Greet the Fire as Your Friend,
SF
I've a sneaking suspicion they've something to do with my personality, too. Like I've said, the Ultra Magnus/Galvatron feud was my Superman/Luthor, my Batman/Joker, my Xavier/Magneto. It was, and always will be, my all-time favourite hero/villain rivalry. With the benefit of age and hindsight I can see how dramatically different it is, too. Hideously outmatched, the best Magnus can hope for is a momentary advantage - one he ends up squandering through his angst and self-doubt. Yet he fights on, despite the insurmountable odds, choking down his fear the whole time and refusing to surrender. Again, I feel this helped shape my outlook on life, and may be why I push on even when I'm convinced I'm going to lose (or am falling apart inside from anxiety). Ultra Magnus: my giant robot espy. It's his fault, hah!
Anyway... the book's had another, more modern effect on me. I've enjoyed it so much that I've decided I shan't be purchasing The Covenant of Primus after all. It is, you see, not of my universe. Granted, I always knew it was set in the aligned TF canon but I erroneously believed it was just the "bible"; the holy text, both in-universe and out, no more. However the trailer makes it clear the tome delves into the cartoon, video games and tie-in novels... and I don't want none of that. Not sight-unseen for $70 plus shipping, anyway. Re-reading all those glorious old comics has reinforced, yet again, that my TF love begins and ends with G1 - and I've not a single regret about that. It's cheaper, for one thing, and fandom should be about the interpretation you prefer, nothing less.
Speaking of interpretations: Man of Steel. After initial skepticism, I found myself hanging out for its debut. It's long bothered me that, with all the great comic book movies out there, we don't have an unassailably great Superman film (your mileage may vary on the 1978 version, I know mine sure does). He's the originator of the genre, for monkey's sake, surely his should be the standard-setting movie to which all others aspire! Well, earlier today I had the chance to sit down and run Kal-El's rebirth in front of my greedy little eyeballs. And... I liked what I saw.
Man of Steel reads like someone took every last Superman comic from the past 75 years, threw 'em in a blender set on "high" and scooped up the best bits that floated to the top. As reboots/reinterpretations/reimaginings go, this is one of the more carefully-planned and better-orchestrated around. It's a great lesson in how to show reverence to the source material without slavish devotion to it (take note, Sony, because your Spidey franchise could use some pointers). Every character, concept and twist has at least its roots in the comics - no matter how different they wind up "growing" - but there's neither assumed knowledge nor heavy in-joking. No mean feat, pulling off that kind of balance.
There's a lot to love. I was especially impressed with Krypton: merging John Byrne's cold, genetically perfect world with the Silver Age's "science hero" Jor El worked beautifully, and Zod's coup made sense in the context of a dying, poorly-managed world. Clark's blood as the bottled city of Kandor was neat, and the Kryptonite weakness' upgrade to "Kryptonian atmosphere" was long overdue and applause-worthy. I liked Jor El as the omnipresent can-do-it-all AI (which made his second "death" all the sadder) and appreciated the intelligence and competence of the military characters (made for a nice change). The film was well cast (Cavill was great), Faora annoyed me in the good way (eeeeevil woman) and the designs and SFX were gorgeous. Pete Ross was fun, too.
There's a lot to dislike. Lara El gets handwaved, the third act almost spares Ma Kent the same fate. I feel like Jor El's prominence in the film came at Pa Kent's expense; we never got to see the best of him and he comes off, quite honestly, like a grumpy asshole. The Kryptonian-on-Kryptonian fight scenes were overlong, lacking in drama and smacked of "action figure slug-fest" (like the last reel of Transformers: Dark of the Moon). It's as if the filmmakers listened to 30+ years of "Superman never hits anything!" complaints and went too far out the other side.
Which brings us to the elephants in the room: the much-maligned level of destruction and the death of Zod.
The violence and carnage left me uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. I found the Metropolis scenes hard to watch and felt numb - not in a desensitised way, but in a vaguely traumatised way. It was too much. I understood that it was meant to be too much, that we as an audience were supposed to be shocked and in mourning and horrified... but I question the value of battering us with that sensation. Kudos to Snyder and Nolan for showing us violence isn't fun, and solves nothing, but I protest handing a third of the movie over to that lesson. It was, in my opinion, unnecessary. And it robbed the (admittedly largely humourless) film of any chance of joyousness which isn't right for a Superman story. "Hope" needs to be more than a crest on his chest.
Conversely, I found the death of Zod... all right, Superman's murder of Zod... well-played, understandable and justified within the story. I don't understand all the complaints. For one thing, Superman killing Zod has been a facet of their rivalry since the Byrne reboot. It is, in metatextual terms, why the villain exists: Zod is the one time Superman crosses the line and the reason he'll never do so again. For another, the film made it agonizingly clear how painful the decision was for Clark (should you disagree, I question your understanding of the language of film). It's important to note we're dealing with a young Superman here; yes, there might have been other ways to stop Zod but none immediately apparent to our newly-forged hero. I think (hope?) future films will deal with the ramifications.
The single best thing about the film? Lois Lane. Fall to your knees and thank your gods, comic book fans, for they hath given unto us all a Lois Lane who is intelligent and capable! I damn near cheered when she back-tracked Clark's life to the Kent's front door - because that's what an investigative journalist does. I did cheer when she chose not to expose Clark, showing the sort of ethics and compassion that should be prevalent in my industry. Big fan of the Lois/Clark marriage that I am, I adored the final Daily Planet scene and welcome a universe wherein Superman's secret is shared (eat that, DCnU garbage). And Zod's mistake should serve as a sobering lesson for every would-be super villain: never leave a journalist alone in a room with a USB slot, because s/he will end you. Moo hah hah.
Simply put? Yards ahead of Batman Begins and Dark Knight Rises, on par with The Dark Knight, not as fun as any of the Marvel movies but well worth seeing regardless. Forget about being inspired or uplifted, though; go see it because it's an excellent science-fiction movie and perhaps the only viable way of making Superman palatable to modern, non-comic audiences.
All that being said... it's still not as good as Superman vs The Elite.
Greet the Fire as Your Friend,
SF